Times for the Real, Good Collectors Brussels Gallery Weekend 2023

This fall you will be up to date with the art world. Our second step this week is Brussels. Between the 7th and 11th of September, the city of Brussels will be overflown with contemporary art on the occasion of the 16th edition of the Brussels Gallery Weekend. This event is dedicated to art galleries, non-profit spaces, artists and collectors and will be celebrated across different art venues. That’s why 45 art galleries and more than 60 openings around Brussels will be waiting for you.

On this occasion, I spoke to two different representatives of galleries taking part in the Brussels Gallery Weekend: Luc Mulier – Cofounder of the Mulier Mulier Gallery, and Wauthier de Mahieu – Director of the Bernier / Eliades Gallery. We discussed the upcoming edition of the event, what we can see in their galleries and the current art landscape.

Dobromila Blaszczyk: In your view, is it a good time to buy contemporary art? Have recent world events led to a lot of new interesting art being shown by galleries? Do you expect some new art collectors to visit BGW or rather rely on the old network?

Wauthier de Mahieu: I do think it’s always a good time to buy art. Every important world event influences the art that was and is created, every crisis, new technology, war or revolution becomes represented in what people create. Digital art, AI art and many other new art styles are appearing every year and make our cosmos more diverse and interesting! 

Luc Mulier: Difficult economic times give good opportunities for the real good collector. Think of E.L.T Mesens who bought here, in Brussels, 200 paintings of Magritte for 10.000BFR, during the deep recession of 1932 at the Le Centaure gallery.

DB: Can you tell us a bit about your gallery?

Wauthier de Mahieu: The Bernier/Eliades Gallery was founded in 1977 in Athens and has since continued working dynamically in the field of contemporary art internationally. After completing 21 years in its old space in Kolonaki－ the commercial centre of Athens, since January 1999 the gallery has been housed in a Neoclassical building in Thission, the historic centre of Athens, at the foot of the Acropolis.

During the gallery’s function, Jean Bernier and Marina Eliades have introduced the public to numerous artistic currents, such as Arte Povera, Minimalism, Land and Conceptual Art and the younger generation of American and European artists.

In 2016, they opened a new space in Brussels located in the Châtelain district. While they keep their curatorial core of historical established artists, they added a different programming vision with longer and specific projects. This experimental space serves as a platform to present young and upcoming international artists to the public.

Luc Mulier: 35 years ago we started our gallery in Knokke. The famous James Lee Byars invented the name of the gallery: Mulier Mulier Gallery and one year ago we opened a second gallery in Brussels.

We held a lot of exhibitions with Panamarenko, Art & Language, Guy Van Bossche, Tadashi Kawamata, Sol LeWitt… We specialised in Arte Povera, Conceptual Art, Minimal Art and Pop Art.

DB: What are you planning to show during this year’s Brussels Gallery Weekend?

Wauthier de Mahieu: For this year’s edition, we are happy to present, for the first time, an exhibition of new paintings by Zimbabwean artist Misheck Masamvu – titled ‘Pivot.’ His body of work combines striking colour with a distinct expressionist style, to establish a grammar of chaotic compositions, gestural brushwork and perpetually altered or mutated figures, often depicted in states of flux or transformation.

They oscillate between abstraction and figuration. The exhibition uses the act of painting to (re)think, (re)work and (re)imagine the world and our place within it. The works featured in ‘Pivot’ were executed over several months and in different parts of the globe – starting in Harare and then Johannesburg, as well as Cape Town, before finally being completed during a 3-month residency in Brussels. They form part of the nomadic project.

Luc Mulier: We’ll do a solo with the works of Mario De Brabandere. The artist makes small colourful works with oil, panel and canvas at the same time. When you look at them, you think of Constructivist Art but the works are sensual and spontaneous. They are constellations of abstract forms, which sometimes look like letters and typography or resemble the ground plans of an architect.

DB: Have you participated in the Brussels Gallery Weekend before? What makes it so unique?

Wauthier de Mahieu: We’ve been participating in the Brussels Gallery Weekend since we opened our second gallery in Brussels; so 8 years in total. The concept of gallery weekends is interesting and comfortable for collectors, as well as for galleries and art amateurs. They can stroll around the different neighbourhoods during the whole weekend and discover the programs of galleries, each with their own style of artists. What makes Brussels unique, compared to other cities, is the quantity of galleries in such a small density, the organisation is human-sized, which adds a familiar approach to this event and as it is in September, it also indicates the reopening of the art season after the (well-deserved) holidays.

Luc Mulier: Yes. Last year we also participated in BGW. We saw a lot of international collectors who only come to Brussels once a year.